How to make the hobby FUN again !

[MR.COMICBOOK]

A way I have made this hobby fun for myself again is discovering niche books, non-marvel and dc superhero stuff, also another way to go is works by popular artist in hardcover format. The most fun I had with comics recently is discovering Neal Adams for the first time thru the DC Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams,Wrightson DC Comics Classic Library: Roots of the Swamp Thing and Marvel Masterworks with Jim Starlins Warlock epic. It`s also fun to learn all about the history of comics and thats there is more to the comic industry than Batman,Superman,Spider-man and mutants. I have even been reading comics on my iphone now There so much out there is a great time to being a comicfan. (thumbs u

[garsull2]

I became bored with the superhero stuff a few years ago and thought about quitting. I started trying other genres and that sparked my interests. I personally don't worry to much about getting high grade stuff. Just buying the best that I can afford works well even if its low grade. Being a member of the boards here has also helped.

[BaltimoreLauren]

I keep it fun by collecting with my dad. Other than people on these boards, I don't know anyone else who collects comics...and frankly, I want to keep it that way.

[garsull2]

It does hep having someone else who understands comics to talk to.

[JohnT]

I keep it fun by collecting with my dad. Other than people on these boards, I don't know anyone else who collects comics...and frankly, I want to keep it that way.

 

That's gotta be fun. Other than when I was a kid, I've never had anyone around who has an interest in comics. Obviously these boards have been a god send.

[BucOne-migration]

As some of you know, I have become quite discouraged by the hobby in the past years. I have moved over to buying Original Art, but that has its challenges as well. Recently I started think "what would make comics fun for me?". Here is what I came up with. I read comics from a very very young age, but I really got serious about it in 1976. What a great time to be buying comics! Here is what I have decided to do.

 

Buy every Marvel comic that came out in 1976. Now I still have a lot of what I bought back then, but I grew up in a small farming community in Indiana and the onl place to buy comics was Osgood, IN about 18 miles away so I onl bought stuff when my mom would drive me over to the drugstore in Osgood. Most of the time, my favorite titles we sold out but I always picked up something. Becuase of this, my stuff from then is pretty spotty.

 

Here are my constraints

1. Only buy Marvel (that was my focus back then)

2. Only buy raw (I read them back then and plan to again!)

3. Not get too caught up on condition. A nice copy with decent eye appeal is perfect (8.0 or better)

 

So I have staretd to compile a list of everything that came out during 1976. So far I have a list 360 issues so far, but I expect that list to grow. I actually think this should be fun and somewhat challenging to complete.

 

most definitely, look for affordable raw comics from other collectors.

 

[batman_fan]

Update:

 

With the site Jim provided and some additional research on my side, I am at 471 issues during 1976. My son and I went to our local comic store yesterday and I picked up 21 books. Average grade is probably 9.0 with an average cost of $5.31 I picked up:

 

Avengers x 2

Black Goliaths x 2

Captain America x 2

Defenders x 2

Doctor Strange x 2

Fantastic Four x 4

Howard the Duck x 2

Ironman x 1

Marvel Two In One x 4

 

Here is a crappy photo. I plan to take my time on this, just pick up from shows and my local store initially. No big rush on it.

 

 

 

[comicdonna]

Update:

 

With the site Jim provided and some additional research on my side, I am at 471 issues during 1976. My son and I went to our local comic store yesterday and I picked up 21 books. Average grade is probably 9.0 with an average cost of $5.31 I picked up:

 

Avengers x 2

Black Goliaths x 2

Captain America x 2

Defenders x 2

Doctor Strange x 2

Fantastic Four x 4

Howard the Duck x 2

Ironman x 1

Marvel Two In One x 4

 

Here is a crappy photo. I plan to take my time on this, just pick up from shows and my local store initially. No big rush on it.

 

 

Very cool idea! I wish you the best of luck!

[ciorac]

Sounds like a lot of fun Greg. (thumbs u

[Senormac]

Indeed (thumbs u

[batman_fan]

 

Went to the Hayward Comic Con today with my son. He get very impatient so I couldn't look much, but I did make a sweep through some of Marc's (House of Comics) inventory and snagged three more books for my 1976 run. I got:

 

Fantastic Four 170

Daredevil 137 and 140

 

Not a lot of books, but fun to look through. I just love the stories and art from back then. One thing I am doing as I pick up stuff from this year is make a not of any particular cover or splash that sparks my memory and then try to track it down. I figure to have any luck at all, I will need to have a pretty big list.

 

My son (7 yrs old) score a Darth Vader light sabre. Not the cheap ones, it is one that came out severl years back and originally sold for ~120 to ~140. He got it for $45 still in the box

 

As a side note, this is the last Hayward show. The building is being torn down. This was always a great buying show. Lots of local dealers, no admission this time ! I think it is a terrible shame. The Bay area could use more of these mini shows.

 

 

[comicdonna]

Congratulations on both you and your son's purchases!

[batman_fan]

Congratulations on both you and your son's purchases!

 

Thanks man, lots of fun.

[Speedy-D]

So how far along are you on the 1976 collection?

[batman_fan]

So how far along are you on the 1976 collection?

 

25 out of 471, although I haven't gone through my collection to see what I already have, and I may not just because my collection is not organize too well these days.

[Speedy-D]

Man, you got some work ahead of you!

[Dale Roberts]

Good luck, hope it brings you back some of your original excitement. I'm doing a similar thing with DC 52-pagers.

 

One tip: don't get discouraged if the books aren't quite as good as you remembered them!

Agreed! stuff you read as a teen will not be as good as you remembered them, This happened to me with yes the 2 holy grails of this hobby, Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen,I loved them as a teen but just read them as a 30 something year old and found them average, not the groundbreaking stuff I thought they were.

 

The exception to the rule for me would be Punisher Limited Series and Killing Joke.

 

Believe it or not, I have never read the Punisher Limited Series. I despise Killing Joke. Not that the story is not well written, but it is totally out of character for Batman (especially the end). If you want to go for a good Alan Moore story, go for the Last Superman Story instead.

 

I would love to have the time to actually read comics. I love books from the mid 1970s as well, especially Marvels. Right smack in the middle of Marvel House Style art, when Peter Parker always looked like Peter Parker, Tony Stark always looked like Tony Stark, and Mary Jane looked like Mary Jane, regardless of who was drawing the comic. Continuity pretty much through the entire Marvel Universe and overall exceptional quality. I loved Spider-man at the time, with Amazing, MTU, and Spectacular. Really, all the major titles were great (with the exception of the horrendous Kirby run on Cap(sorry if that offends some)), and some of the stuff like Kazar and Astonishing Tales with Deathlok was well worth reading. Warlock, Cap Marvel, lots of really good stuff.

 

I would love to go to a convention some time and dig and find an entire long box of this type stuff and take it home and read it all. Ironic thing about it, I wouldn't even have to leave my own table.

[Detroit MIke]

 

 

Greg, great idea to work on 1976. That's always been an extra cool year due to the bicentennial celebrations and Howard the Duck running for president. I've been rereading the 1979-1981 stretch and it's fun to remember where and when I originally picked up the books. I was lucky enough to have a couple of drug stores near and I was even able to get older books at Kresge's for 7/ buck.

 

I'd really like to change the way I have my Marvels organized: for example, I want to put all the 1965s in one box, sorted by month, then by title. Maybe I can assemble FF 1 and all other hero books through 81' ?

 

I agree with Dale. The lack of a standardized version of characters in today's Marvel universe is annoying.

[Foolkiller]

The Killing Joke though, is more of a Joker story than a Batman story, though I see what you mean. The Alan Moore Superman story, Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow is one of my favorite stories of all time -- just terrific.

 

70s are one of my favorite times during Marvel, and a ton of fun to read:

 

FFs are great, ASMs are great, Avengers are great, Starlin stuff, etc. Iron Man had probably his only classic run during the 70s as well. I know it's out there in quantity, but some of those issues when I see them in high grade I just can't resist buying them no matter how many copies I have.

[Dale Roberts]

The Killing Joke though, is more of a Joker story than a Batman story, though I see what you mean. The Alan Moore Superman story, Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow is one of my favorite stories of all time -- just terrific.

 

70s are one of my favorite times during Marvel, and a ton of fun to read:

 

FFs are great, ASMs are great, Avengers are great, Starlin stuff, etc. Iron Man had probably his only classic run during the 70s as well. I know it's out there in quantity, but some of those issues when I see them in high grade I just can't resist buying them no matter how many copies I have.

 

Me too. I have a passion for those books that defies logic.